Pottstown Girl Wrestlers Making History

POTTSTOWN, PA — Every high school girl who wrestles is making history, as the sport grows and moves closer to PIAA sanction; among those who are part of the movement are four Pottstown wrestlers.

Pottstown High School girl wrestlers, Julianna Figueroa, Zoe Earle, Mia Bumbarger, and Xiyah Robinson competed at the My House State All Girl Championships on March 21, helping move the sport of girls wrestling closer to Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association sanctioning as a team sport statewide.

The PIAA requires that at least 100 schools across Pennsylvania have dedicated girls wrestling teams for the sport to be sanctioned. There were nine high schools in the state with girls' wrestling programs in 2020, according to PA-Wrestling.com.

The My House State All Girl Championship provides an opportunity for girls to compete.

Pottstown School District called the four girls "pioneers in helping to promote girls wrestling as a sanctioned sport by the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association."

District communications director John Armato said, "Their performance at the My House State All Girl Championships lived up to the team philosophy, hard work pays off when you make every second count."

Julianna Figueroa placed second at the 134-pound class. She is the first female three-time state medal winner in the PHS Trojan program.

Two-time state medal winners were Mia Bumbarger who placed sixth at 147, and Xiyah Robinson who placed fourth in the 222 class.

Senior Zoe Earle went 2-2 on the day to end a highly successful high school career.

According to PA-Wrestling.com, in 2020 there were 21 states that had officially sanctioned girls
wrestling. The organizations said girls' high school wrestling is a fast-growing sport, with 21,000 girls wrestling at the high school level.

In addition, there are over 75 colleges that have women’s wrestling, five in Pennsylvania, according to PA-Wrestling.

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